


Songbirds (in Training)

by bigfeetbiggersocks



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Songwriting, and toni is a mom !!!, its what they DESERVE, theyre all just friends man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:48:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29855583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigfeetbiggersocks/pseuds/bigfeetbiggersocks
Summary: Toni sighs, crumpling up the paper in her hands and tossing it onto the growing pile by Sweet Pea's feet. He kicks some of the balls of paper away from him, scattering them across the floor."You know that we don't have to do an original song, right? Another cover works just fine."Toni taps her pencil against the table and shakes her head."It doesn't, though. This is Tabitha's birthday and I want it to be special for her."
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Songbirds (in Training)

Toni sighs, crumpling up the paper in her hands and tossing it onto the growing pile by Sweet Pea's feet. He kicks some of the balls of paper away from him, scattering them across the floor.

"You know that we don't have to do an original song, right? Another cover works just fine."

Toni taps her pencil against the table and shakes her head.

"It doesn't, though. This is Tabitha's birthday and I want it to be special for her."

"That's sweet, but if you can't think of anything she'd probably be happy with a nice cover anyway." Fangs chimes in. He's sitting on top of the table next to Sweet Pea. His legs are crossed at the ankle and Toni's daughter is balanced on his thigh. Tessa is smiling up at him, one of her hands wrapped around his thumb, and even though he's talking to Toni he's looking directly at Tessa.

Toni rolls her eyes and taps her pencil against the wood a couple more times, thinking. 

"It isn't just about making her happy; It's about leaving her in awe."

Sweet Pea and Fangs each raise an eyebrow at her. For a moment it looks like Tessa is going to join them. 

"Good awe! I wanna impress her." She groans and returns the tip of her pencil to the paper, scribbling over some of the old lyrics written in there. "Songwriting is hard as hell."

She can hear Sweet Pea snort and shuffle in his seat. "Why don't you ask for help?" 

"From who?" 

"You still talk to Josie, don't you?" 

"Yeah, but she's been busy lately. The Pussycats are getting ready for a big tour soon." She shifts her pencil over to the margins of the notebook, drawing a couple messy hearts and stars in the empty space. 

"You could always ask Archie." Fangs says. He bounces Tessa in his lap, watching her as she starts giggling, then finally looking up at Toni. "He was into all the songwriting stuff too."

She puts the pencil and notebook to the side, sliding it across the table. "You guys seriously think Archie's gonna wanna help us? I don't think he's written a song since high school."

"He might've been in a military band."

"Miliatries don't have bands, Sweet Pea." 

Sweet Pea scoffs and picks up one of the balls of paper closest to him, crumpling it up tight and tossing it at Fangs. Fangs ducks in them for the first one to miss him, but he gets hit square in the nose on Sweet Pea's second attempt. The paper falls in front of Tessa, who is quick to pick it up and play with it. 

"Militaries have bands. And Archie was probably in one. You should ask him." 

Toni tunes them out, focusing instead on fishing her cell phone out of her pocket and sending Archie a quick text. It's nothing more than a short message asking if he's free and willing to help her out with a project, and she hopes he'll reply soon. 

"Did you ask him about the band?"

"No. I didn't ask him about the band." This prompts Sweet Pea to take another of the paper balls and throw it at her, but she manages to catch it with ease and toss it back to him. 

"Nice catch."

She smirks before being interrupted by the buzz of her phone. It's a text from Archie. 

"He says he's down to help out."

"All right!" Fangs stands up on the table and lifts Tessa up in the air, bouncing her slightly as she continues to laugh. 

It turns out that Archie is still pretty good at songwriting despite having gone years without practice. If anything, it's gotten easier for him to come up with lyrics, and when he and Toni combine their efforts they're able to come up with some beautiful metaphors. 

They're both hunched over Toni's battered notebook, passing the pencil back and forth, the words flowing from them like a river. They can hear Tessa babbling quietly behind them, and Fangs and Sweet Pea replying back to her, but they're too focused on the song to make out what exactly they're saying. 

"I think we should change the tempo here." Toni points the eraser at the lines Archie just finished writing. He nods. "I think if we pick up the speed a little it'll help transition into the chorus better."

"Oh yeah, I think you're right." He watches her scribble the tempo notes in the margins beside the lyrics. "I don't know why you asked for my help; You're pretty good at this."

She smiles and nudges his shoulder with her own. "Oh, please. This song wouldn't be nearly as nice without you."

"Yeah right." He smiles back and takes the pencil from her, jotting down a couple more notes on the final chorus. Toni leans closer to him, reading over the notes as he writes them, before feeling Sweet Pea tap her shoulder. 

"You guys finished?" 

She glances over at Archie and he hands the notebook to her so she can transfer it to Sweet Pea. 

"It's a first draft. Don't be too judgy." 

"When are we ever judgy?" 

Fangs rolls his eyes and pushes past Sweet Pea, passing Tessa to Toni and starting to read over the song. 

Tessa grabs a hold of both Toni's and Archie's hands, squeezing them as Toni wraps her free arm around her. 

"She likes you." 

Tessa babbles something incoherent, as if trying to prove Toni's point, and starts giggling again. 

"Woah. This is really good." 

"Yeah, since when did you get so talented?"

Sweet Pea tosses the notebook onto the table, and it lands inches from Toni's thigh with a soft thunk. "We're about to win an Emmy."

"That's not for music." 

"And it's just a birthday party." Toni reminds him. "The awards show comes later." 

The five of them end up laughing together (Tessa being the loudest), temporarily forgetting their musical ventures in favor of spending time in each other's company. 

Tabitha's about to have one hell of a birthday.

**Author's Note:**

> hey yall :) I'm back w another riverdale fic lmaooo  
> this is just something short n sweet kate gave me a suggestion to write n I'm rly excited to post it bc I dont think any of the friendships get enough recognition in show n what better way to rectify that than to just write abt them yourself lmaoo   
> I hope yall enjoy this !!! I'll probably be writing abt these guys in the future (esp Toni sweet pea n fangs) just bc I think theyre sweet n deserve more appreciation


End file.
